Extensive 3 degree burns are always very serious injuries and are often lethal. Much of the resultant morbidity and mortality is due to infection originating in the burned tissued. The irreparably damage ischemic skin is highly susceptible to infection and this is compounded by the lowered "defenses" of the severely burned patient. Although local and systemic chemotherapy has lowered deaths from sepsis, the incidence of severe burn wound infection is still high and morbidity still too prolonged. Recovery and return of function is contingent to a large degree on the earliest, safe removal of burn eschar and skin grafting. Early surgical excision of the eschar using the usual "cold" scalpel and skin grafting (homografting and autografting) have been advocated. Where feasible this approach is good, but when the deep burn is extensive, such excision is often formidable, involving prolonged anesthesia, considerable blood loss and replacement. The use of the CO2 laser which we introduced offers significant advantages for excision of large deep burns in terms of blood loss, but excision with current models is relatively slow. There are drawbacks also to the use of the bovie. Our objective is to develop methods for rapid chemical (enzymatic and non-enzymatic) debridement of 3 degree burns in simple, safe, non-toxic (local and systemic), non-sensitizing (local and systemic) and effective ways without having to subject the patients to anethesia and a formal surgical operation. Such debridement must permit immediate or prompt successful skin grafting. Included in the attributes of chemicals used for debridement is that their actions differentiate among unburned skin, partial thickness burns and full-thickness burns - i.e., only tissue devitalized by thermal injury is debrided and viable tissue is not injured. We plan to continue studies of the use of chemicals and proteolytic and mucolytic enzymes which we have found to be effective debriding agents singly and in combination. We are developing also new compound and compatible mixtures of the agents used for debridement and anti-microbials, i.e., the anti-microbial and debriding agents do not interfere with one another's action. The methods developed can be complemented by surgical excision and will be applicable to clinical problems in addition to thermal burns, i.e., conditions where devitalized tissue is present.